Process fob coloring toy balloons



Aug. 1, '1933.

J. c. GIBSON PROCESS FOR COLORING TOY BALLOONS Original Filed March 5,1928 gwuentot 9/1 22 6. z%c%mn Reiuued Aug. 1, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE Pioneer Rubber Company, Willar Corporation of Ohio Original No.1,720,594, dated July 9, 1929, Serial No. 258,867, March 8, 1928.Application for reissue June 26, 1931. Serial No. 546,988

4 Claims.

My invention for .its object to provide a processof decora ivelycoloring rubber toy balloo'ns orrubber bladders, whereby exceedinglyattractive toy balloons or rubber bladders may 5 be fantasticallydecorated in a plurality of variegated colors and shades thereof andover variform areas at a very low 'cost.

As is well known in connection with toy balloons, their salability isdependent quite entirely upon their attractive appearance and, moreover,the margin of profit in such artitcles is exceedingly small so that anyprocess pertaining to the manufacture of such balloons, to be usable inthe manufacture of the balloons, must necessarily be exceedingly smalland at a very low cost. By my invention I have provided a processwhereby balloon coloring materials may be utilized for producingvariform contours and in the various shades of the colors.

To indicate in a general way the product of the process, I haveillustrated in the accompanying drawing a toy balloon that has beentreated in accordance with the process.

Fig. 1 illustrates'a' toy. balloon after it has been colored by theprocess involving my invention.

' Fig. 2 indicates the coloring produced when the balloon, illustratedin Fig.1, is distended. Fig. 3 illustrates a bundle of one or moreballoons preparatory to their introduction into the ballooncoloringmaterial.

In carrying out my process, the balloons are colored over irregularareas and with variable intensity of colors by first bundling one ormore, as from one to six, balloons in a bun'dle by tying when in therinsing liquid or solution to remove the surplus balloon coloringmaterial that-does not adhere to'or penetrate the surface of the rubber.The bundles are then disassembled and the balloons permitted to dry. Theballoons may then be packed for shipment.

Inasmuch as separated balloons cannot be made so that the parts of theballoons thus bundled will be located in exactly the same relation to orbinding them together, without care as to their ,peated as many times asdesired to-produce various intensities of the colors and produce thevarieties and combinations of colors that arise from mixing of colors,such as greens produced by yellows and blues and purples produced byreds and blues. Also, an'exceedingly attractive line is produced byrebundling *the balloons in small bundles of 1 to 6 balloons in. eachbundle after they have been colored by one color, as described above,and then insert them. in a second color which will produce othervariform patterns having variegated color and shades.

Preferably, the balloons are formed to have .a basic color, the coloringbeing contained in the composition of the balloon itself which coloris,-

preferably, contrastive to the colors that are added, in the mannerdescribed above. Thus, the balloons'may be colored in light basic color,that is, light colored rubber may be used in the formation of theballoon. The greater the contrastive character of the rubber the moreeffective will be the colors added by my process. Thus, as shown in Fig.1, which is drawn from a balloon colored by my process, the directlyexposed portions 1-of the balloon 2 is colored to the maximum intensityproduced by the coloring materlal into which it is inserted, dependingon the time in'which the balloon is allowed to remain within thecoloring material. The shaded portions 3 are produced by the variousdegrees of penetration of 'the coloring-material within the folds andthe wrinkles that are produced inthe irregular bundling of the balloons,which also defines the-areas 1 where the colorreaches its maximumintensity. There is also frequently produced, by my process, auniformity of outline as is illustrated in the central Figure 4, and thecontour of the lighter shaded portions 3 and 5 which produce anattractive characteristic in the coloring of theballoons. When theballoons are distended, as shown in Fig. 2-, the colorings becomelighter but theballoons maintain their strikingly characteristic andattractive appearances. The parts, such as the part 4,- become enlargedand distorted which aids the salability of the balloons.

The balloons may be bundled as may be desired. They may be bundledsingly or in any number, or they may be confined 'for dipping by anysuitable confining means and theballoons may be secured in theirirregular and haphazard arrangement in any manner, such as by'an elasticband or by clothes pins or by tying a bundle of balloons into a knot, orby confining them by any'mechanical means. A plurality of balloons 7 areshown in Figure 3 as being secured by elastic banos 8 which may belocated at the top and bottom. The balloons may be haphazardly foldedand secured in bundled form by a single band or by tying two or moretogether, by clamping with clothes pins and springs, by pulling bundlespart way through rings of wire or washers, or by placing them in a wirescreen or placing layers of balloons under or between sheets of wiremesh, or plates having corrugated surfaces, or surrounding them by aplurality of pipes and binding the sheets or wire screen or corrugatedsheets or plates or pipes having a plurality of balloons enclosedtherein and thereby haphazardly enclosing or packing them in an enclosedand confined space by means of rubber bands or by tying the-assembledlayers of balloons and wire mesh or corrugated plates or pipes withcords. Any other mechanical means .may be used for holding and confiningthe balloons singly or in any number in a haphazard arrangement in sucha manner that the color cannot come in contact with the surface atcertain points and will come in contact at other points and in variabledegrees to produce a variable penetration of the coloring materialthroughout practically all the surfaces of the balloons to produce theresults described above. When the balloons are thus enclosed they aredipped in one or more color solutions as described. Where a plurality ofballoons or layers of balloons are placed under sheets or corrugatedplates or wire screen or similar confining mechanical means, they arelocated in a suitable container, and pref erably in irregulararrangement which produces a varying pressure over parts of the surfacesof each balloon, to enable submergence or covering of the balloons byone or more different coloring solutions to enable the variablepenetrations of the color or colors as described above. When a pluralityof the articles are surrounded by a plurality-of pipes which, by reasonof the cylindrical surfaces of the pipes, produces the desired variationin pressure on parts of the surfaces of the balloons, cords may be tiedabout the pipes to irregularly press the haphazardly placed balloonswithin the confines of the space produced by the pipes and then thebundle may be dipped in a pool bath of the coloring solution. When theballoons are placed in layers between sheets of wire mesh or sheets ofcorrugated metal or plates, the plates are maintained in their relativepositions by any suitable means and the balloons thus confined withinthe plates are dipped in the solution to produce the variablepenetration of the coloring material on the enclosed balloons.

I claim:

l. The process of coloring rubber bladders or toy balloons, whichconsists in bundling the balloons in irregular form, in a plurality ofbundles, each bundle having but a few balloons, and introducing thebundles into a rubber coloring material and withdrawing the bundles fromthe rubber coloring material and introducing them into a rinsing liquidand separating the balloons in each bundle from each other and dryingthe balloons.

2. The process of coloring rubber bladders or toy balloons whichconsists in bundling in irregular form the balloons in lots of one tosix in each bundle and introducing the bundles into a rubber coloringmaterial and withdrawing the bundles from the rubber coloring materialand introducing them into a rinsing liquid, and again rebun-- dling themand again introducing the bundles into a coloring material having acoloring different from thatof the first named coloring material, andagain rinsing the bundles ina neutral liquid and separating the balloonsof each bundle and drying the balloons.

3. The method of ornamenting thin rubber articles which comprisesplacing together a plurality of the articles in irregular arrangementand producing variable pressures of contacting surfaces of the articlesand subjecting the articles to a rubber coloring solution therebyproducing variation in penetration of the color solution and depositingthe color irregularly upon the articles and variation in intensity ofthe color on the surfaces of the articles.

4. The process of coloring articles formed of thin sheet rubber whichcomprises haphazardly bundling the articles to cause the bundles to makeirregular contact with each other and introducing the bundles into arubber coloring material and withdrawing the bundles from the rubbercoloring material and drying the articles. 7

. JOHN C. GIBSON.

